5 ms·

I mean yes, this is exactly what I’m talking about. Use semi-colons if you want and wear a fedora if you want, but understand the image you’re putting out into

I mean yes, this is exactly what I’m talking about. Use semi-colons if you want and wear a fedora if you want, but understand the image you’re putting out into the world if you do.

mdp2021 5y ago
Whereas, how would you evaluate the image you would project, by not using semicolons (or anything that would fall into this matter of use, appropriateness and possible reactions) when appropriate, or by refusing to do it to follow the use of some not better defined writers, or for fear of the judgement of some very generically mentioned public? Which kind of public are you courting?
- paulcole 5y ago
  Write with semicolons or wear a fedora and I can make a few (likely accurate) guesses about who you are. Either you’re OK with giving off those vibes or not. Personally, I’m not. So I’d rather just not use semicolons.
  - mdp2021 5y ago
    > guesses about who you are Someone who uses instruments properly and competently?¹ You have chosen different vibes: you have not just avoided some, you have embraced others. "Conformist" has not, historically, been used as a compliment. Within epistemology, if researchers had put "group adherence" before "truth adherence", humanity - very loosely speaking - would still be using epicycles, ignore bacteria, use for the subatomic newtonian equations (which would not exist, because of course "distant action is unthinkable") etc. So, here is one profile you could guess: someone who knows that distributions are bell curves instead of slopes - the extreme is less frequent than the median -, so someone who knows that "common sense" expresses a wish, when replacing the proper expression "good sense". So, someone who tries to carry on one's work objectively irregardless (and often in spite) of spurious fads and trends. -- ¹Provided, of course, such is the case.
  - denton-scratch 5y ago
    > Personally, I’m not. (I.e. not "OK with giving off those vibes", I guess) See, I don't much care what vibes I give off. If people don't like my "vibes", I find different people to associate with. I don't pair my fedora with a snappy costume; I've always been a slob as far as clothes are concerned. In fact I was complimented only yesterday on my "ensemble", which consisted of a leather bomber jacket with a lumberjack shirt hanging out, a pair of baggy training pants, and a hat. My instinctive (and rather rude) response was that I don't wear "ensembles", that this was just random strips of fabric I had stapled to my body when I rolled out of bed. I'm not Hemingway, although I do appreciate the value of short sentences for making prose clear and easy-to-understand. I'm not a punctuation nazi; I don't think less of people for not using the same style of punctuation and sentence-construction that I do. I think your "likely accurate" guesses about who I am are probably wildly inaccurate, given that you've based them on a single 5-line post to a web forum. FWIW, I have no idea who you are, or what kind of person you are, except that you seem to be inclined to jump to conclusions based on scant evidence.
    - paulcole 5y ago
      > I think your "likely accurate" guesses about who I am are probably wildly inaccurate Maybe, maybe not. But I could've predicted your entire response nearly word for word.

I mean yes, this is exactly what I’m talking about. Use semi-colons if you want and wear a fedora if you want, but understand the image you’re putting out into the world if you do.

mdp2021 5y ago

Whereas, how would you evaluate the image you would project, by not using semicolons (or anything that would fall into this matter of use, appropriateness and possible reactions) when appropriate, or by refusing to do it to follow the use of some not better defined writers, or for fear of the judgement of some very generically mentioned public? Which kind of public are you courting?

paulcole 5y ago
Write with semicolons or wear a fedora and I can make a few (likely accurate) guesses about who you are. Either you’re OK with giving off those vibes or not. Personally, I’m not. So I’d rather just not use semicolons.
- mdp2021 5y ago
  > guesses about who you are Someone who uses instruments properly and competently?¹ You have chosen different vibes: you have not just avoided some, you have embraced others. "Conformist" has not, historically, been used as a compliment. Within epistemology, if researchers had put "group adherence" before "truth adherence", humanity - very loosely speaking - would still be using epicycles, ignore bacteria, use for the subatomic newtonian equations (which would not exist, because of course "distant action is unthinkable") etc. So, here is one profile you could guess: someone who knows that distributions are bell curves instead of slopes - the extreme is less frequent than the median -, so someone who knows that "common sense" expresses a wish, when replacing the proper expression "good sense". So, someone who tries to carry on one's work objectively irregardless (and often in spite) of spurious fads and trends. -- ¹Provided, of course, such is the case.
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  > Personally, I’m not. (I.e. not "OK with giving off those vibes", I guess) See, I don't much care what vibes I give off. If people don't like my "vibes", I find different people to associate with. I don't pair my fedora with a snappy costume; I've always been a slob as far as clothes are concerned. In fact I was complimented only yesterday on my "ensemble", which consisted of a leather bomber jacket with a lumberjack shirt hanging out, a pair of baggy training pants, and a hat. My instinctive (and rather rude) response was that I don't wear "ensembles", that this was just random strips of fabric I had stapled to my body when I rolled out of bed. I'm not Hemingway, although I do appreciate the value of short sentences for making prose clear and easy-to-understand. I'm not a punctuation nazi; I don't think less of people for not using the same style of punctuation and sentence-construction that I do. I think your "likely accurate" guesses about who I am are probably wildly inaccurate, given that you've based them on a single 5-line post to a web forum. FWIW, I have no idea who you are, or what kind of person you are, except that you seem to be inclined to jump to conclusions based on scant evidence.
  - paulcole 5y ago
    > I think your "likely accurate" guesses about who I am are probably wildly inaccurate Maybe, maybe not. But I could've predicted your entire response nearly word for word.